NEW YORK, 5 September — A Pakistani Muslim woman and her teenaged son were target of hate attack in Long Island’s Suffolk County last Sunday amid warnings from the authorities that such attacks against Muslims could increase as the first anniversary of Sept. 11 draws nearer.
The already scared Muslim community had to bear another shock just hours after the incident when a local court released the two attackers, Richard Bossi, 19, and Matthew Martin, 18, on just $100 bail.
A local Pakistani group, Americans of Pakistani Heritage Inc., produced the assaulted family members of Tariq Malik, 42, a resident of the US for the past 17 years, at a press conference here on Tuesday where Mehmooda, 37, and her 15-year-old son Gibbran Malik gave details of their agonizing experience.
The incident happened outside the Malik family’s Selden restaurant. Police said the two were assaulted because they were Muslims and the suspects blamed them for the Sept. 11 attacks. Police said the woman and the boy were trying to get into their car in the restaurant parking lot when the two men began punching the boy’s head and body. During the attack the two men shouted, "You blew up the Twin Towers," "Are you terrorists?" and "Are you connected to Osama Bin Laden?" police said. The men also yelled profanities about Muslims.
However the attackers were arrested within an hour. But were released on $100 bail and are scheduled to appear on Oct. 11 in first district court, in Central Islip. The two were charged with misdemeanors, punishable by up to one year in jail and $1,000 fines. "They were not charged with felonies because the victims did not have severe injuries, but the misdemeanor charges are stronger than the violations they would have faced if bias had not been shown," said Suffolk Police Det. Allen Van Wickler.
The Americans of Pakistani Heritage upon receiving the report contacted the offices of New York State Gov. George Pataki and Executives of Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk counties. It received letters of condemnations from both offices. There was no response from George Pataki’s office till Tuesday . None of the two officials had any explainations as to why the two attackers were released on $100 bail.
